England's Department of Health and Social Care is recruiting a head of technology, digital and data at a maximum salary of up to £285,000 a year, well above that most recently advertised for the department's boss.

Tech suppliers asked to support single electronic health record across England [1]READ MORE

In April 2025, the department announced Samantha Jones as its new permanent secretary or chief executive, having offered a salary of £170,000 to £200,000 in the recruitment campaign.

[2]Sir Keir Starmer receives around £170,000 a year for serving as [3]prime minister [PDF] and a [4]member of parliament [PDF].

According to [5]information published by the department with the job ad, the new director general for technology, digital and data should be capable of leading digital transformation work, taking responsibility for multi-million pound budgets, running technology initiatives "within scope, budget and timelines" and effectively managing vendors.

The ideal candidate should also have experience in healthcare or regulated industries such as banking, telecoms, utilities or transport. Applications close on 9 February with final interviews taking place in early March.

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The pay and requirements reflect how much the government is relying on technology and data to improve the National Health Service (NHS) in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run healthcare independently.

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In a 10-year plan for the NHS in England published last July, the government highlighted its plans to develop the NHS app into "a full front door to the entire NHS" by 2028, providing instant advice for non-urgent care, ability to choose providers, book tests and manage medicines and long-term conditions. It also plans to create a new genomics population health service by the end of the decade which will rely heavily on the use of data and technology.

[9]Brit AI boffins making bank with £560K average pay packet at Anthropic

[10]Former UK prime minister Sunak becomes human Clippy for Microsoft, Anthropic

[11]Get paid like a prime minister to tame Home Office IT chaos

[12]Microsoft CEO feels weighed down by job cuts

In [13]September , health secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS in England will also set up a "digital hospital" service that will provide online consultations in some treatment areas that can be delivered [14]remotely .

While NHS England – the national body currently being absorbed into the Department of Health and Social Care – runs some national technology systems, much of the key data and technology is managed by individual NHS trusts that run hospitals and other healthcare services.

A previous government attempt to join up health service technology and data, the notorious NPfIT, or National Programme for IT, set up by prime minister Tony Blair in 2002, failed to deliver its objective of integrated electronic health records systems, although it did lead to better infrastructure. ®

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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/13/uk_health_department_calls_for/

[2] https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/dhsc-permanent-secretary-job-advert-wormald-successor

[3] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124173/2022-12-07-Ministerial-Salaries-22-23-table.pdf

[4] https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10225/CBP-10225.pdf

[5] https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=c2VhcmNocGFnZT0xJm93bmVyPTUwNzAwMDAmdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9MTY5MDI4Njg5Jm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTk4MjYwNCZwYWdlYWN0aW9uPXZpZXd2YWNieWpvYmxpc3Qmc2VhcmNoc29ydD1zY29yZSZwYWdlY2xhc3M9Sm9icyZyZXFzaWc9MTc2ODU4ODk5My0wZDNlODc5MzI5ZTBkMjcwMTdhZDA4ZTAwNjdhNWMxZmVmZDAxNGFi

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aW9gVBDWmm5mFOdf0fxAYQAAA4c&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aW9gVBDWmm5mFOdf0fxAYQAAA4c&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aW9gVBDWmm5mFOdf0fxAYQAAA4c&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/uk_ai_pay/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/10/former_uk_prime_minister_rishi/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/home_office_cdio/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/25/microsoft_ceo_job_cuts/

[13] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england-executive-summary

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/01/nhs_online/

[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/